Tommy's Perth Cup Double Sets Record Straight

MISSING the 2021 Perth Cup with champion chaser – and now Hall of Famer – Tommy Shelby was a tough pill to swallow for trainer Steve Withers.

And understandably so.

A year earlier, at just his 12th race start, Tommy Shelby won the Group 3 Consolation of the Perth Cup after missing out on a final berth by a mere neck in the heats.

For such a young and inexperienced pup his exploits during the 2020 series was a snapshot of what was to come from the gifted son of Fernando Bale and Serena Fly High.

In the aftermath of the 2020 series, Withers already had a cautionary eye on a return in 2021, in the hope of claiming a hometown Group 1 in the flagship event with the country's most popular greyhound.

Put simply, a Tommy Shelby Perth Cup triumph would raise the Cannington roof.

TOMMY SHELBY AT STUD

But before his Perth Cup tilt, Withers would venture to Sydney for a G1 Golden Easter Egg bid at a time when the superstar sprinter was atop of his game, boasting recent G1 wins in the Hobart Thousand and Australian Cup.

Yet in the lead up, wild Sydney weather saw the three-week series pushed back a week meaning the Golden Easter Egg Final coincided with the Perth Cup heats.

Already in Sydney, Withers proceeded with his Easter Egg campaign, one that would ultimately prove successful, defeating Wow in a memorable finale in 29.27 to land a third group 1 victory.

A week later, Withers could only watch on as the great Tiggerlong Tonk raced to victory in the Perth Cup, wondering what might have been had the two giants of the sport clashed yet again.

Tommy Shelby would retire late in 2021 meaning a Perth Cup would be one of the few big race finals the million-dollar earner didn't contest during his illustrious career.

But as a sire he's wasted no time in setting the record straight.

And as a trainer, neither has Withers.

On Saturday night at Cannington, Victorian star Deadly Avenger, in the care of Withers in WA, raced away for victory in the Perth Cup.

In a ripping display, he defeated another Group 1 winning Tommy Shelby sprinter in Morton.

The victory made it back-to-back Perth Cups for Withers and sire Tommy Shelby after Uncle Tommy's heroics in 2024.

Following the happenings in 2021, Withers would have been forgiven for thinking his chances at Perth Cup glory might have passed him by.

After all, a Tommy Shelby is a one in a lifetime.

Fast forward just four years and remarkably Withers now boasts two Perth Cup titles both courtesy, in part, of his super sire. 

"It's all him – he's just very special," Withers said.

That he is.